Speech or voice technology, in the form of speech recognition, is used in a variety of different environments to facilitate the completion of work or various tasks. Such voice-enabled work environments, for example, include voice-directed work environments and voice-assisted work environments.
In a typical voice-enabled work environment, the worker wears a mobile computer having voice or speech capabilities. The mobile computer is worn on the body of a user or otherwise carried, such as around the waist, and a headset device connects to the mobile computer, such as with a cable or possibly in a wireless fashion. In another embodiment, the mobile computer might be implemented directly in the headset. The headset includes one or more speakers for playing voice instructions or prompts and other audio that are generated or synthesized by the mobile computer to direct or assist the work of the user and to confirm the spoken words of the user. The headset also has a microphone for capturing the speech of the user, such as speech commands and other audio, to process the commands spoken by the user and to allow the entry of data and other system feedback using the user's speech and speech recognition.
One example of such a voice-enabled work environment is generally referred to as voice-directed work, as the user takes specific direction from the central system and their mobile computer like they might take direction from a manager or supervisor or from reading a work order or to-do list. One such voice-directed work system, for example, is provided in the Talkman® system that is available from Vocollect, Inc. also of Pittsburgh, Pa. The mobile and/or wearable computers allow the users that wear or use them to maintain mobility at a worksite, while providing the users with the necessary directions or instructions and the desirable computing and data-processing functions. Such mobile computers often provide a wireless communication link to a larger, more centralized computer system that directs the work activities of a user within the system and processes any user speech inputs, such as collected data, in order to facilitate the work. An overall integrated system may utilize a central system that runs a variety of programs, such as a program for directing a plurality of mobile computers and their users in their day-to-day tasks. The users perform manual tasks and enter data according to voice instructions and information they receive from the central system, via the mobile computers. Through the headset and speech recognition and text-to-speech capabilities of the mobile computer, workers are able to receive voice instructions or questions about their tasks, to receive information about their tasks, to ask and answer questions, to report the progress of their tasks, and to report various working conditions, for example.
Another example of a voice-enabled work environment is referred to as voice-assisted work. Such a work environment is involved in situations where flexibility is required and specific task direction is not necessary. In a voice-assisted work environment, users engage in a selective speech-dialog with the system when they need to. The voice-assisted work system is designed to accommodate various prompts, instructions, and information as selectively directed by the user and their voiced commands, rather than issuing continuous instructions in a set order as with a voice-directed work system. One such voice-assisted system is provided by the AccuNurse® system available from the assignee of this application, Vocollect Healthcare Systems, Inc. (VHS) of Pittsburgh, Pa.
One of the main challenges in a voice-enabled system centers around the training of new users. The voice user interface (VUI) that is part of the voice-enabled system requires a user to know what to say and when to say it. The problem that the trainer or coach or other supervisor faces is that it is very difficult to tell a user what to do with respect to the interface when the trainer or coach cannot hear what the user is hearing or where they are in an ongoing speech dialog. The same problem surfaces with regard to ongoing training/coaching of existing users as well as when new users join the organization and need to learn how to use the system or a new feature is implemented in an existing system.
To overcome this challenge, hardware solutions have been used. For example a trainer or coach might connect a separate piece of hardware, such as a small loudspeaker, to the mobile device or personalized headset that the user is using in order to be able to hear what the user is hearing. These hardware solutions, although they successfully accomplish the task, are cumbersome to use and require direct (and obtrusive) interaction with the user being helped, trained, or coached.
A need still therefore exists for a voice-enabled system in which a trainer or coach can more effectively coach another user. There is also a need for a coach or trainer to know the voice prompts as delivered to the user being coached or know where in the speech dialog the user is so that better training may be facilitated without the need for additional intrusive coaching-specific hardware on a user's computer or other inconveniences to the user.